Most gun owners need to disassociate themselves from the extremists

Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | April 25, 2003 | Bob Johnson

[Jay D. Dyson]

Distance ourselves from firearms "extremists"? That's a bit of a tall order, considering that the Left considers anyone who believes "the people" in the Second Amendment actually means the people is an "extremist"...

Let me put this in terms that even the Left can understand:

What part of "Shall Not Be Infringed" don't you understand??

-Jay

[wattsmag2]

The 2nd Amendment isn't about hunting season...

Af'inmen

[ninenot]

This article looks to me like a short re-run of a article published in Chicago (?) by some sportswriter during the discussion of CCW in Illinois.

Evidently they can find one village idiot in each village.

Can't wait to find out which idiot will re-write the same article in Wisconsin.

[tcostell]

Personally I think this is a fairly made point, but I think it's wrong none the less. I think that constitutional purists make an argument which is in general more extreme than that that held by the average gun owner, but I don't think that should change.

The fact of the matter is that 2nd amendment groups that have taken the "give not an inch" approach may seem extreme to liberals, but it's far more effective than taking a compromising position.

Anti-gun groups have made their positions plain that they want "all weapons banned" and you can't compromise with people like that.

[Lee Heggy]

Here ya go Bob! You put on this camo hat with the antlers and walk out there in a big circle towards where we saw them other hunters and attract the deer back here. OK?

[cibco]

This guy wasn't around 30 yrs ago when there wasn't 20,000 gun laws and the sight of a rifle or handgun didn't rate a second glance. Not sure of the stats, but I felt a lot safer then and you didn't have to keep tract of what assinine law you might be breaking when handling a weapon.

This sissy can probably hire a bodyguard if he feels threatened. Sure writes like an elitist and probably needs Sarah Brady around to change his diapers...

[Search4Truth]

Little men like Bob Johnson disgust me. There world is so small that it can only encompass their petty little personal wants and desires. They are worthless wastes of humanity. He is a coward, and lives only due to the efforts of better men then himself. The mass graves of the world are full of men like him.

Thank God we have real men who honor their roles and responsibility as men - who do violence on our behalf - so that little men can endulge themselves in their ignorance.

Molon Labe' little man. You panzy ass Liberals will never take out guns. You haven't the courage.

[demosthenes the elder]

And who the hell is Bob Johnson?
Exactly how does he, a solitary individual, claim to better represent the "majority" of gun owners better than various hard-core gun-rights groups whose combined member lists number in the tens-of-millions? Example: The NRA has between 3.5 and 4 million members alone.

[Lee Heggy]

"Molon Labe"

Boy! Do I miss 'The Firing Line'.

[bullseye1911]

This guy sounds like a GOINO = Gun Owner in Name Only

[demosthenes the elder]

well put. and this Fudd needs to look to Britain, Australia, and Canada before flapping his lips again.

[Armedanddangerous]

Uh,,,how about NO...

Speak for yourself you Nancy boy..

I like my HOMELAND DEFENSE weapons and choose to keep them.

Heck, I want MORE of them...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

His view of "sensebly regulate" would probably not include gun ownership for an inner city black man. I'd bet on it.

[Redcloak]

Bob Johnson, owner of a national investment banking firm, lives in Farmington.

Bob Johnson is probably a skeet shooter who thinks that guns are nothing more than expensive playthings.

...which, of course, begs the question "why would the Founders bother to mention toys in the Bill of Rights?'; a question that Bob would likely call "extremist".

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Hey Bob, what is this "we" stuff, you got a mouse in your pocket?

Speak for yourself, chump.

[Carry_Okie]

Bob Johnson: Most gun owners need to disassociate themselves from the extremists

How about a little honesty, Bob:

Bob Johnson: More gun owners need to set themselves up as patsies by disassociating themselves from "the extremists"

There, that'll do. Nothing quite like honesty in a headline.

[Blacksmith]

I wouldn't exactly call the NRA a "hard core" group. When Bill Clinton proposed ten new gun regulations, Wayne LaPierre supported nine of them. They are, IMHO, a slippery slope, in and of themselves. There is no doubt they have done some good work over the years but they have failed to take a strong 2nd Ammendment stance and that weakness has cost us much. I get notices from Gun Owners of America long before issues are voted on, while there is time to head them off. NRA/ILA on the other hand seems to prefer to report on how the vote went.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

"From my cold, dead hands!"

[SteveH]

Bob Johnson, owner of a national investment banking firm, lives in Farmington.

I think bankers literally live in a different world. They awake in their mansions in a gated community with security guards. They board their limos for the long commute to work (no public transportation, no siree, they could get mugged!). They spend the workday insulated from the public via layers of receptionists and armed guards. Their kids go to private schools, and every public and private function they attend is also attended by hordes of hired off duty moonlighting cops. They are on a first name basis with the local politicians because they contribute the cash for their re-election. No one they know needs guns because in their liberal cocoon they and their children are insulated and protected from threat by immediate and lethal armed retaliation by the hired help. It's just someone else (without the white gloves on) who's doing the dirty work and pulling the trigger.

The real threat, for them, exists in the full realization of the Constitution in which all the rights of everyday people are backed in the ultimate by the Second Amendment. Everyday people! The right to bear arms! The horror!

Somewhere, this Mr. "Johnson"-- presuming he really exists at all-- is looking down at the rest of America while ever so discreetly holding his own nose pinched shut. If he finds the true meaning of the Second Amendment so disagreeable, perhaps he needs to pack his belongings and take a ship back to wherever his (no doubt illustrious) ancestors came from.